CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Lipscomb Lady Bisons are back in action in Chattanooga Saturday night, but they are playing against a different team and hopeful of a different result.

Friday night the Lady Bisons lost 7-0 to Tennessee-Chattanooga at the indoor tennis facility at the McCallie School. Tonight at 4 p.m. they face Evansville at the same location. It was the first loss for the Lady Bisons this season dropping them to 2-1.

“Road trips are always difficult,” Lipscomb coach Jamie Aid said. “We knew it was going to be a challenge being on the road for the first time this season against a strong Chattanooga team.”

The tone for the match was set in the doubles competition.

“We came out a little timid with doubles against Chattanooga,” Aid said. “We want to see an adjustment there for the Evansville match.

“Singles games were better. We just didn't convert games when we needed to and UTC did.”

Aid did some shuffling in the order of players. Lorena Djuknic played at No. 4 singles, moving up from No. 5.

“Lorena Djuknic had a strong match at No. 4 that went into a tie breaker,” Aid said. “Deahna Welcher had a tough match fighting back in the second set.”

Aid designed a challenging preconference schedule for her team. She is hopeful the early challenges will prepare the Lady Bisons for a rigorous Atlantic Sun slate.

“We play in a tough conference,” Aid said. “For us to become better we need to compete against strong teams.

“Our preconference season is a hard schedule. We wanted to play tough matches before conference play begins in March.”

The Lady Bisons don’t have any seniors on the team this season. But despite their youth Aid expects nothing less than a tough mental and physical performance from her players with each match.

“This Lipscomb team is not afraid of competition,” Aid said. “We own our loss today. We took growth from this match, not disappointment. We are looking forward to Evansville, which will be another hard match.

“We continue the process win or lose. This is such a young team for us. I am very encouraged with how they handled themselves after the match. When you have these matches where you lose 7-0, a team becomes very transparent. You find out pretty quick if this is a group that can't handle pressure or if this is a group that will rise up.”

Aid and her staff expect to make some adjustments despite the quick turnaround.

“I was glad to see heads up and eager for Evansville, not heads down in disappointment,” Aid said. “I am certain that this team will continue to raise its level.

“We are looking forward to making some minor adjustments against Evansville. Hopefully we will be adding to some good results.”